


Under a Blood Moon

by sonofthanatos



Category: South Park
Genre: Cemetery, Edgar Allan Poe References, F/M, First Dates, First Kiss, Lunar Eclipse, Protective Kenny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 22:49:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17395175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonofthanatos/pseuds/sonofthanatos
Summary: Karen has her first date with Firkle and joins the Goth kids to watch the moon.





	Under a Blood Moon

Karen couldn’t wait to talk to Kenny.

All her life her big brother had been her best friend; when they had dealt with social workers or gone to foster homes, when she had started new schools, her brother had always been there to talk to her and comfort her. No matter what was going on he had always found time to play with her. Sometimes she wondered whether the “guardian angel” that had looked after her time and again had been real or was just how she pictured Kenny in her dreams: solid, strong and protective. Now that she had good news, there was only one person she wanted to talk to.

  
Hurrying into the house, she ignored Kevin and found Kenny doing the dishes. Running up behind him, she hugged him tightly. “Hi Ken!”

  
She could almost feel his familiar grin. “Hey you.” Pulling away just long enough to dry his hands, he hugged her back. “Do you know it’s a blood moon tonight? You should come with me later; Craig is taking a bunch of us out to see it.”

  
“Actually, I-”

  
“Oh! If you want to see something hilarious, ask Tweek about the moon landing. He gets going on conspiracies and Craig goes crazy trying to convince him it was real.”

  
She smiled nervously. “It sounds fun, but I already made plans to see it.”

  
“You’re going out with the girls? Great! Bring them along.”

“Actually, I have a date.”

Kenny seemed to freeze. His wide smile vanished. After a moment he took a deep breath. “What?” He croaked.

“I have a date. A guy I’ve been flirting with-“

“No.”

“-asked me to go with him and his friends-“

“No!”

“-so I’m going to watch the moon with them.”

“NO!”

She forced herself not to give in. “Yes.”

“You’re too young to have a boyfriend!”

“I’m 14. You were 10 when you started dating.”

“That…that…”

She crossed her arms. “Go ahead. Tell me why it’s different.”

He sputtered for a few minutes, before managing to ask. “Who is it?”

She smiled again, trying to put him at ease. “You remember Firkle? My goth friend? He asked me this morning.”

“Firkle! No way! He’s too old for you! He’s deranged! He has major issues!”

Her eyebrows raised challengingly. “I’ll call and cancel if you can tell me right now which one is Firkle.”

Kenny’s mouth opened and closed several times but no sound emerged. She rolled her eyes.

“See? You just hate the idea of me dating in general. Firkle is the youngest goth, by the way.”

Kenny stared at his sister. “You’re dating a 13 year old?”

“He has an old soul.”

“He doesn’t have a soul! For God’s sake all the goth kids do is sit around, drink coffee and whine about how everything is awful. They get off on the twisted and disturbing!They wallow in misery! How can you possibly like that?”

She stood up. “You know what? I was happy. I was going on my first date with a guy I really like. I was so excited to tell you, and all you can do is ruin it. Thanks, Kenny.”

She stormed into her room and slammed the door.

Several minutes later there was a tentative knock, then the door opened and Kenny came in. She shifted over and he cautiously sat down on her bed.

“I’m sorry.” He took her hand in his. “You’re still my little sister, and I forget sometimes that you’re growing up.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“You really like this guy?”

She smiled. “I really do. He’s younger than me, but he has this way of seeing into the souls of the world. He’s fun, in a dark sort of way.”

Kenny sighed. “All right. Well, if he really makes you happy I won’t interfere. Just…be careful, all right?”

She wrapped her arms around him. “You’re the best!”  
  
  


Kenny made a show of leaving, then carefully slipped back into the house while Karen took a shower. It was time for her “guardian angel” to look after her again.  
  
  
The cemetery was one of Firkle’s favorite places.

He loved walking through the graves, looking at the old and forgotten names, thinking of the lost histories and hidden secrets. He spent lots of time here, reflecting on the futility of it all, of the fleeting moments of life. He wasn’t afraid of death; why fear what was unavoidable? It was fascinating to think that nobody had ever truly gone through the veil and returned to talk about it; at best you had brief fragments, difficult to describe.

Death was the end, the ultimate. Death was final. Life was the hard part; you just had to go on and on.

At least he had some company while he waited.

He looked at his friends: Michael, oldest of them all, leaned his new cane on a grave as he looked through their books; Pete, flipping his hair out of his eyes yet again while he stared vacantly at the sky; Henrietta, sitting cross legged on the blanket, one hand holding her cigarette and the other running through Clyde’s hair; Clyde, looking ridiculously out of place in his blue jeans and his letterman’s jacket, laying on his back with his eyes closed and his head in Henrietta’s lap, looking totally content.

Another figure caught his eye and he turned away, pretending not to have seen her while he fought to get rid of the ridiculous look on his face; he was Goth, he was darkness, HE DID NOT SMILE!!!

Once he got himself under control he turned around again.

Karen was beautiful; her long dark hair fluttered in the wind and cascaded down the black dress Henrietta had helped her pick out. She had put on black nail polish and lipstick, and dark purple eyeshadow completed the effect.

“Karen.” He fought to keep his voice flat and unemotional.

“Firkle!” She surprised everybody by wrapping her arms around him; unused to physical affection he closed his eyes and willed himself not to blush.

Judging by Clyde’s snickering he had failed.

Opening his eyes again he took her hand and led her to the blanket. He glanced back…

And paused.

Was it his imagination, or did he just see somebody in a cape over there?

Karen glanced over. “What is it?”

Firkle squinted but didn’t see anybody. “Nothing.” He led her over to the blanket they had spread out and sat down, drawing his knees up. She sat next to him and leaned against him with a smile.

As they waited for the moon, Michael passed around books; Karen saw they were all Edgar Allan Poe stories. Henrietta rose and began setting up and lighting candles; Clyde tried to help but ended up getting more in the way.

“We have a tradition of reading Poe stories to each other in the cemetery.” Firkle explained, flipping through his book and noting with pleasure his favorite story.

Karen smiled. “Do we go in order?”

Pete shook his head. “Order is too conformist. If you want to start you can.”

To their surprise she went straight to the middle of the book and started reading; Firkle wouldn’t have guessed that she had a story ready. As she began, he drew his knees up.

“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul…”

Firkle was mesmerized as she read. She had a gift for telling stories; you could almost hear the madness in Montresor’s voice, feel the conflict, hear the despair of Fortunato.

“Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!”

A stunned silence fell.

“Wow.” Henrietta finally spoke. “That was VERY goth.” Clyde had sat up and his eyes were wide.

“That was excellent.” Michael took a drag on his cigarette. “I approve.”

Karen smiled. She still didn’t have many friends, but she was happy to please the ones she had. Her eyes landed on Firkle. He hadn’t moved but he stared at her, rapt.

“Wow,” he breathed. “That was incredible.”

She blushed. “Thank you.”

Firkle shifted in his seat…

There was that cape again!

He looked at the woods in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on. With a shrug, he turned back to Karen. “That’s one of my favorite stories.” 

“Mine too. It’s fascinating; you can tell he’s insane, but at the same time you almost embrace it. It’s as dark as the night and just as pityless, yet somehow relatable.”

Firkle was in awe. How had he never seen this darkness in her, this reverence for the night?

He didn’t realize he was staring until Clyde cleared his throat audibly, his eyes sparkling with laughter.

More to save himself than anything, he opened his book to the story he had picked out; "The Masque of the Red Death".

One by one they read out their stories. To Firkle’s surprise Clyde joined in, reading “The Raven.” Henrietta gazed at him as he read, her dark eyes gleaming with affection.

As Clyde finished, an alarm beeped on Michael’s phone. He turned it off and they gazed at the sky in wonder.

The moon was enormous over them. The normal silvery light had vanished behind the shadow of the world; instead it burned a deep red, like a ruby surrounded by small diamonds on a black cloth. The goth kids all gazed at it in wonder; even Clyde seemed awed by it.

Karen wanted to rest her head on Firkle’s shoulder but he was too small for that; instead she took his hand in hers. He stood as close as he could to her without actually leaning on her.

For a single minute they stood united beneath the moon, unable to speak.

Clyde leaned in and kissed Henrietta; she didn't push him away, but took his hand in hers. Michael and Pete looked away, but Firkle noticed sourly they were watching him out of the corners of their eyes.

His thoughts were interrupted when Karen leaned in cautiously. "Is this OK?" She whispered.

Firkle nodded weakly, unable to speak. Leaning in himself, he let his lips brush lightly over hers, trying hard not to blush.

It was his first kiss.  
  


 

It was weird to think that Firkle was walking her home. He was younger than her, so her instinct was to make sure he was OK, but she didn't want to humiliate him by treating him like a little kid. He was her boyfriend, after all.

He suddenly paused again, staring in confusion and annoyance. She followed his gaze...

"Guardian angel?" She breathed, staring at the caped figure watching them from the rooftop.

Firkle looked at her in surprise. "Do you know who that is?"

Karen tried to figure out how to explain it without sounding like a moron or a schizophrenic. "He's my guardian angel. He used to come to me when I was scared or in danger and protect me. I actually thought I had imagined him."

Firkle seemed about to say something, then paused. "He's really important to you, isn't he?"

She nodded. The figure still hadn't moved, but was watching them determinedly, his cape fluttering in the wind and his white briefs shining.

Firkly seemed to come to a decision. "Let's get you home."

Walking her to her door, he tried to gather the courage to kiss her goodnight and failed. She looked just as embarrassed.

"Embrace the night, Firkle."

He smiled slightly. "Good night, Karen."  
  


 

Kenny thought about the night. Firkle had been...well, a lot better than expected. He had treated her well, complimented her, and Kenny would admit to being impressed by thefact that he actually walked her home. He carefully hid his costume away then slipped out, making sure to get home after Karen.  
  
Karen wrapped her arms around him in excitement, gushing over her date. Kenny seemed happy for her, which put her in a good mood.

"How was your night? Did you get Tweek all riled up?"

Kenny paused. "My night was good. The moon was great and everybody seemed happy."

She had the sense that he was choosing his words very carefully but was too happy to question it. She drifted off to bed, visions of a red moon and a boy with dark hair in her head.


End file.
